A ‘new and amazing life’

The past 10 months have proven to Charlie Anne and André Xavier that life can change in an instant. It was early morning on September 10 when Charlie left the couple’s home to do some final construction work at their soon-to-open Patch Brewing Company in Gordonsville. Less than an hour later, a fiery explosion left […]

Fierce over 40

Most athletes are hitting the end of the road by age 40. Martina Navratilova hung up her racket at age 38. Soccer star Abby Wambach scored her last goal at 35. When Jessica Coleman turned 40, she was just getting started in her sport. Four years later, she won her first national bodybuilding competition, and […]

Summer Guide

From polo and swimming holes, to sunsets and weed, here’s our guide to the season’s hottest happenings. 1. Flix at IX Remember the good ol’ days of drive-in movies—basking in the warm summer air, holding your portable radio close, munching on snacks? If you’ve never experienced the magic of outdoor cinema in the summer, IX […]

This Week: 3/13

A few years ago, Molly Conger was just your average Charlottesville resident who, to be honest, didn’t pay much attention to politics. Now she’s got more than 20,000 Twitter followers hanging on her moment-by-moment reports on local government meetings, which she’s been live-tweeting since December 2017. In this issue, Conger, in the first of what […]

Sharing activism with your kids

In 36 years of moving up and down the mid-Atlantic, I’ve never lived in a city that didn’t carry the weight of a racist past. As a teenager, I heard news of white supremacists marching through my small Maryland town. As a young adult in Greensboro, North Carolina, I marveled over stories about ’60s sit-ins, […]

Little wonder: Why it’s so hard to find affordable, high-quality child care

Jessica Maslaney remembers trying to navigate the complex maze of child care options before her first child was born. “It’s a confusing process where everything matters, from cost to educational environment to teacher qualifications, and you’re just scrambling to figure it all out.” After toting her baby son to work with her at the Piedmont […]

For the love of the South

As he prepares to step down, the founder of the Southern Environmental Law Center looks back on three decades of defending the region’s natural treasures   Ambitious and naive. That’s how Rick Middleton describes himself 33 years ago, when he founded the Southern Environmental Law Center, a small nonprofit that would protect the air, the […]

Refresh: 25 ways to look, feel, and be your best

New Year’s resolutions losing steam? (Or maybe you didn’t make any to begin with?) As we come to the end of a long, cold January, it’s not too late to make a fresh start. From ways to be brave to where to find support, here are 25 simple, mostly-local tips to help you look, feel, and […]